


Jump-Start

by Infini



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Drabble, Gen, He Got Better, Not Really Character Death, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 13:00:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infini/pseuds/Infini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A freak accident demonstrates Soundwave's devotion to Megatron, and his knowledge of Cybertronian medical procedures.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jump-Start

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came to me before I'd ever heard of First Aid's invention of spark jump-starting in the MTMTE comics. But since A) First Aid is great, and B) Soundwave knows everything, I figured the two stories didn't need to be mutually exclusive.
> 
> I wrote this because, as a roleplayer, I'm not overly familiar with third-person omniscient perspective. Time to stretch my boundaries a little...
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Not even Shockwave would have calculated for it. The incident was so outlandish, so unexpected, so blatantly ridiculous, that such a suggestion would have had the troopers laughing in the halls. It might have explained why everyone was so slow to react.

Megatron was not one to leave matters in the hands of others. He could have simply left it to Soundwave to deliver reports on the progress of repairs, but instead he made rounds on the Nemesis to view them with his own optics. The restoration of full power to the engines was one such important subject, and it pleased him to stand on the elevated walkway, overseeing the busy workers below.

The engineers had eagerly reported that the majority of power connections had been restored, and were prepared to test the thrusters at normal capacity. Their master naturally approved, and watched the proceedings from overhead. If all went as planned, they would be able to return to their task; if anything should go wrong, he would be present to deal out punishments accordingly.

Engineering might not fall under his cadre of responsibility, but Starscream had taken up a viewing position a few paces from the Decepticon leader, just in case.

The engine room was appropriately massive, given the size of the ship it powered. Spanning nearly the entire width of the space-faring vessel, as well as several storeys tall, the space needed to be large in order to house power turbines capable of moving something so huge. Normally, the atmosphere thrummed with the weight of churning energy and bright-burning Energon, as a constant reminder of just how small the viewers truly were. It was the most fuel-efficient ship of its size ever created, and still ate through almost as much Energon as all of its inhabitants, every day.

Currently, the space was far darker than it could have been. In the interest of saving energy, the architects and engineers had agreed that the glow from the engines would supply the majority of the lighting for the space. It worked well for the most part, but under the current circumstances, everything was left a little dark. Emergency lighting had been strung up haphazardly, but most of the workers had come to rely on the small, portable lights they carried, if they wanted to see anything in great detail.

There was a general feeling of excitement among the crowd as the metaphorical switch was thrown. The banks of engines thrummed, slowly at first, then heightening their pitch at the steady increase of fuel. Dimness receded under the growing light of burning Energon, until the entire room was almost tolerably bright again.

All engines functioned exactly as they should have. It was the stabilizers which quite literally threw everything into disarray: unprepared for the sudden surge in speed, the Nemesis listed dangerously to one side, forcing everyone present to grab hold of the nearest solid object. In Megatron’s case, this was the woefully insufficient guardrail. It had been constructed for the hands of the lightweight, weaker Eradicons; his monstrous grip crushed the piping as though it were tin, breaking its structural integrity and sending the former gladiator tumbling in undignified fashion over the walkway’s edge.

He made a grab at the next-closest thing to try and arrest his fall, one set of digits closing over a thick dangling cable. It might have been enough to support his weight, if it wasn’t for sharpened claws cutting through the insulated housing: enough power to run one of the Nemesis’ engines poured from the damaged cord and into Megatron’s frame, covering his roar of shock and pain with the sound of surging electricity.

And then he fell like a boulder, crashing to the floor below.

For several clicks, every single mech stood in stunned silence. The engines slowed their churning, throwing the room into partial darkness once again. Everything seemed suspended and motionless, waiting for their leader to rise, to begin tearing into those nearest to him. Those troopers within range had already begun to back away, when the realization came that something was wrong.

“… Master?”

The single word seemed far too loud to Starscream’s audios, practically echoing within the massive room. He too had been clinging to the railing for support; at first to keep himself from falling, but now for reasons entirely different.

There was no response.

This was where panic would have begun, if Soundwave hadn’t suddenly made a spectacle of himself. Leaping down from his perch on the opposite side of the damaged railing, he landed lightly and skittered across the floor to Megatron’s side. The intelligence officer’s visor flashed as he looked over their fallen leader, who had landed faceplate-down; after what could only be described as a glare, several nearby Vehicons moved forward to roll him onto his back.

Megatron’s optics were black and empty, traces of his violet Decepticon colours already leaking from the mark long affixed over his spark. The badge was quickly removed from view, as Soundwave’s nimble digits dug into the gates beneath and pulled them open with scarcely a sign of effort. Considering how tightly locked a Cybertronian normally kept their chamber, this might have been a testament to how much power could really be behind that seemingly delicate frame…

There was no time to contemplate it, before a pair of long tentacles unceremoniously jammed themselves into the open casing. From his perch up above, Starscream winced slightly, reflexively pressing a palm against his own chest; such rough handling was more than enough to inspire sympathetic reactions from those nearby.

But if the sensation of something shoved into a spark chamber was uncomfortable, then the sudden crackle of electricity was enough to make the second-in-command jump backwards. He gaped at the cables overhead, certain that some stray bolt would strike him down next, but there was no light beyond the normal rectangles of luminous polymer. A second burst of sound coming not from above, but below, alerted him to the noise’s source: Soundwave’s tentacles, normally ringed in purple, blazed white as they poured energy into the lifeless chassis.

He was… trying to restart Megatron’s spark?

From overhead, it was impossible to see closely, but the way Soundwave’s lean frame began to hunch over suggested this task was using a great deal of his internal reserves. But the mech didn’t falter, pressing a hand onto a singed grey panel as the rings began to glow again.

“Stop that!”

A screech of tires on the metallic floor alerted everyone nearby that the Decepticon medic had arrived, in vehicle mode no less. He transformed in an instant, dashing across the floor toward the scene.

“No no no, you’re making it worse!” Knock Out barked at the stooped figure, not pausing his run in the slightest. Surprisingly, Soundwave’s only reaction to the harsh words was to glance upward. Normally such exclamations in his direction would not have been tolerated by himself, or Laserbeak.

Starscream, after careful consideration, clambered down from the damaged gangway to the floor below, while the blazing red medic crouched on the other side of their fallen leader, still gesturing sharply.

“Affix those here, and here!” A sharp digit circled the air above the entrance to Megatron’s spark chamber, jabbing downward for emphasis. “You have to use the proper rhythm, or it won’t work! One, two, three; understand?”

A quick nod, and instant reaction to the instructions was the only response Knock Out received, before the lengthy appendages began to glow white again. The medic’s words were repeated, distorted and echoing from a vocal system that was not his own.

 < _One, two, three._ >

From so close, the feeling of stray electricity dancing along sensors was almost overwhelming. Ozone filled the scorched air, clawing at olfactory systems with the instinct to move away from the source of danger, but there was no movement among those who had gathered in an uneven ring around the scene. Bursts of white illuminated the scene, their pulse even and rhythmic, throwing the room into stark relief before the return of relative darkness and eerie silence. The sounds of the Nemesis all around them, its humming engines and clicking actuators, seemed to have faded into the background in sympathy with the ship’s lord and master.

Sound. Silence. Sound. Silence. Sound-

A faint click and whirr were the only warning before Megatron produced a roar any engine would have been proud of, throwing himself to his pedes in a rush of furious motion that threw both Knock Out and Soundwave aside. The encircled Eradicons leapt backwards, stumbling over one another in an effort to get out of his path, but he stopped before barrelling into them. A couple of very nervous Vehicons spent far too long staring into their leader’s wild and glowing optics, before he straightened his stance, turning on his heel with a menacing glare in full force.

“ _Starscream!_ ” The Seeker flinched, but he’d known Megatron for long enough to distinguish between true anger, and the desire for immediate attention. “Knock Out! Soundwave-”

The bark of orders fell suddenly, awkwardly flat. While the medic had been shoved backward, suffering a two-point aft landing for his trouble, Soundwave was sprawled across the floor, lying on his chest in what must have been an uncomfortable position for Laserbeak. He had managed to lift his head, though only barely, and at Megatron’s voice his faceplate flickered to life. For an instant, it seemed that the intelligence officer might suddenly, finally speak… But then the visor went black and dropped to the floor with nothing but a dull thunk, leaving the room silent once again.

Starscream had stepped forward, absent-mindedly offering a servo to Knock Out as the latter pulled himself up from the floor, but neither gave much attention to anything but their leader and the downed Soundwave. Not even the damage to the medic’s finish was paid any mind, for now at least.

One did not become leader of the Decepticons without having excellent reaction time, and none of those present should have been surprised that Megatron began shouting orders only a moment later.

“Knock Out! Get Soundwave to the medical bay, NOW!”

His bark had the medic moving in an instant, having already guessed what was coming. A snappy motion of his hand had a pair of nearby Vehicons scooping up the downed flyer, one wedging their way under each arm to lift him from the floor. Lazerbeak, no longer pinned under his carrier’s weight, took to the air immediately in order to hover just out of the way. Knock Out was already on his comlink, speaking to Breakdown with orders to prepare the medbay, slaggit, because it’s Soundwave. Yes, Soundwave. Just prepare everything!

As the two supporters vanished through the door with the intelligence officer, the medic cast a glance back over one broad shoulder in their leader’s direction.

“... Lord Megatron, you should come to the medbay as well, sir.”

“Later,” he growled, accompanied by a dismissive gesture made with more than enough force to send the grounder jogging out the door, “Your focus is Soundwave!”

And within seconds, the scene was over, leaving Starscream and Megatron in among the humming engines. The Seeker noted, rather uncomfortably, that the nearby troopers had all but vacated the immediate area, leaving only one or two to hover just beyond the corners of the massive machinery. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be the only one standing within the Decepticon leader’s range right now, especially with a convenient lack of things to hide behind, but he stifled the sentiment and tried to remain calm. Surely he couldn’t be blamed for this! … Could he?

“Starscream.”

Megatron’s quiet voice was arguably more terrifying than his shouting. There were only two possible reasons for it: genuine calm, or that dangerous shrewdness that the Decepticon leader was known for. The second in command turned to face his master, who was watching him with carefully narrowed optics.

“Tell me what happened.”


End file.
